


Sleep Tight

by drwhogirl



Series: Emma Caffrey [5]
Category: White Collar
Genre: Alternate Universe, Episode: s03e11 Checkmate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24627250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drwhogirl/pseuds/drwhogirl
Summary: Neal tells his daughter her favourite bedtime story
Series: Emma Caffrey [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1780558
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	Sleep Tight

“Daddy?” Neal paused in the doorway for his daughter’s room with his fingers on the light switch. “Can you tell me a bedtime story?”

“Sure.” Neal went to sit down next to her bed. He couldn’t remember when Emma had wound up with a room of her own at Elizabeth and Peter’s, but he knew how much she loved sleepovers with them. “Which would you like tonight?”

“Do you think… could you tell me the story of when you and Uncle Peter saved me?”

“You… are you sure you want that one?” Emma nodded and Neal tried to suppress his sigh. “Well, I was on my way to pick you up from school when I saw your Uncle Peter standing on the doorstep.”

“Walked into me on the doorstep more like.” Peter interjected from the doorway, earning a giggle from Emma and an eye roll from Neal. “I was there to tell your dad about the ransom we received.”

“What was the ransom? Was I worth a lot?”

“Lots and Lots.” Neal told her, ruffling her hair gently. “You were worth a whole submarine full of treasure.”

Emma gasped. “Wow, that’s a lot.” She snuggled into her pillows and blankets, cuddling her teddy bear* tightly like a security blanket. “What happened then?”

Peter came into the room and sat on Emma’s desk (which being designed for a 5 year old was about the right height for an adult to use as a normal chair). “I took your daddy into work, so he could listen to the call we received from the man that took you.” Peter explained.

“Is that the one that I was in?”

“Yes it was.” Neal told her, moving from his chair to sit on the edge of his daughter’s bed. He wrapped an arm round her, holding her close. This story still upset Neal but he couldn’t say no to his little girl’s request. “Uncle Peter asked for proof that you were still alive, and do you remember what you said?”

“I asked him to tell Miss Minns that I wouldn’t be in tomorrow.” Emma said with a grin. Miss Minns had been her Kindergarten teacher at the time, Emma absolutely loved school and was worried that she would get into trouble with her teacher.

“And that was a very clever thing to say, because your daddy worked out straight away-“

“Not quite straight away-“

“Fine, very quickly after talking to Miss Minns that Emma is a very clever girl indeed.” Emma giggled again and hid her face in her dad’s shirt, a little embarrassed by the compliment. Peter picked up a sketch book from Emma’s bed and brought it over. “Because while we were talking to your teacher, she showed us your drawings.”

Neal took the book and flipped to a page showing one of the relevant sketches. “You’d noticed that someone was following you for a while hadn’t you.” Emma just nodded so Neal continued. “Because you had drawn pictures of the van and men you kept seeing everywhere, and you knew if we spoke to your teacher then she would show us.” Neal stroked her hair gently, to comfort himself as much as her.

“So the next job was to find your Uncle Mozzie. He had fallen out with your Daddy because…” Peter paused, unsure what the girl already knew so Neal stepped in.

“Because Uncle Mozzie wanted to move away but Daddy wanted to stay in New York with Uncle Peter and Auntie Elizabeth.”

“Right. So Uncle Mozzie had left, but he didn’t know his favourite princess had been taken! And he had taken the ransom with him! We didn’t know where he had gone.” Peter paused and whispered to her conspiratorially. “Who do you think could find him?”

“Estelle! Best homer in the city!” Emma had been taken to see Estelle a few times, she had even been allowed to hold her once, she liked how soft her feathers were.

“Exactly.” Neal told her with a smile. “Estelle took a message to Uncle Mozzie, telling him you had been taken and he came straight back, to see how he could help. We told him he could help us pay the ransom to get you back.”

“While all this was happening, Dianna and Jones were working very hard to find you. They used your drawing, which you had cleverly included a licence plate number on, to track down the van that took you.”

“But there was a problem.” Emma said. She knew the story well enough that she knew what was coming next.

“Yes there was.” Neal told her. “You see, we knew they wouldn’t find you before we ran out of time to give him the ransom and once he had it, we didn’t know if he would give you back. So we decided to trick him.”

“Your dad, Uncle Mozzie and I arranged for the police to be at the storage facility where Uncle Mozzie had hidden the treasure so the man who took you would have to help us get it and would be distracted until Dianna and Jones found you.” They were being careful to leave Keller’s name out of the story, knowing how just his name tended to put every member of their little family on edge. Not something they particularly needed at bedtime.

“But then the mean man tried to take Daddy.” Emma said with a pout.

“Yes he did.” Neal told her, pulling her closer. “He was upset with me and wanted some revenge, but what do we say about revenge?”

“It doesn’t solve anything.” Emma answered dutifully.”

“That’s right, and it’s against the law.” Peter added, there was some grey area but it was simpler for the girl to think all forms of revenge were illegal. “I had a phone call from Diana and she told me that they had found you, so I went after the man that had your Daddy.”

“By that time, I had broken out and was trying to fight him off until Uncle Peter came to help me. Then Uncle Peter arrived and arrested him.”

“After you shot him.”

“After I shot him.”

“And nearly shot me.”

“And nearly shot you.” Neal rolled his eyes and went back to the story. “So the bad man went to prison and I got you back, and we all lived happily ever after.” He got up from the bed and tucked Emma in. “Now get some sleep.” Neal told her, kissing the top of her curls and ushering Peter out the door.

“G’night Daddy. G’night Uncle Peter.” She mumbled as she drifted off.

“You look like you need a drink.” Peter said when they were out in the hallway with the door shut behind them.

“You have no idea.” Neal sighed, running a hand through his hair. “She loves that story, but it never gets any easier to tell.”

“It will, just give it some time.”

*The bear in question had been a gift from Peter and Elizabeth for her last birthday and had quickly become her favourite. It was a cream coloured bear with big blue eyes. It had been dressed in a suit and matching trilby. Peter had even made the bear a little anklet with a 3D printer he found in evidence. Emma was thrilled and took it everywhere with her.


End file.
